Secret report emerges on coal-fired power station in North

A NEW north Queensland coal-fired power station would cut emissions, reduce costly energy transmission loss and secure the region's supply during extreme weather events, according to a secret report.

The report was never publicly released. It was commissioned by the State Government and finalised in February, after the LNP flagged support for the power station.

The emergence of the report will embarrass Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, whose campaign has been blown off course by Adani protesters and her inability to remember how much debt her Government had paid down with dividends.

Labor candidates throughout the region are campaigning against the popular power station proposal, while attempting to sell the Government's 50 per cent renewable energy target.

He said Labor was saying one thing about the power station proposal while hiding a report that said the opposite.

"The LNP will build with the private sector a high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power station in north Queensland to increase energy security and lower wholesale electricity prices," Mr Nicholls said.

"Annastacia Palaszczuk and Labor have been caught out misleading Queenslanders about the benefits of a high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power station in north Queensland."

LNP leader Tim Nicholls promised to build a coal-fired power station in north Queensland.

According to the report, there were "significant losses" transporting energy from central Queensland to the north, which drove up household and business prices.

"It is also possible that a power station in north Queensland will delay future transmission investment by preventing the long-distance electricity needing to be imported from central Queensland to north Queensland," the report said.

The report said a north Queensland power station would be able to stock pile coal, reducing the reliance on transmission lines that were susceptible to "weather, industrial and social disruptions".

"The installation of an additional large thermal plant will also provide contingent security, meaning that a deeper pool of backup generation is available in the instance that renewable power supply fluctuates, that other generators fail, that the transmission grid is disrupted or if consumption demand is elevated in hot weather," it said.

The report said an ultra super critical station, which produces 38 per cent more electricity with the same amount of coal, could cut Queensland's emissions by 10 per cent if it displaced one of the state's older plants.

One Nation has backed a new coal-fired station while Katter's Australian Party has questioned the time it would take to construct and called for a raft of measures to cut power prices.

A Galaxy poll earlier this year found half of Queenslanders backed a new station in the north, including 65 per cent of LNP supporters and 41 per cent of Labor voters.